French military forces were stationed in Germany after the

surrender of Germany The German Instrument of Surrender was a legal document effecting the unconditional surrender of the remaining German armed forces to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe. It was signed at 22:43 CET on 8 May 1945 and took effect at 23 ...

after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; France was one of four Allied powers allocated an occupation zone. The

French occupation zone The French occupation zone in Germany (, ) was one of the Allied-occupied areas in Germany after World War II. Background In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta C ...

( [], ) existed from the end of the war until 10 August 1949. Subsequently, the French military stationed forces in West Germany ( []) with its headquarters in Baden-Baden during the Cold War.

History

The makeup of the FFA from 1950 to 1990 varied according to the demands being made on French military forces serving elsewhere. For example, the presence of large numbers of Algerian Muslims, both volunteers and conscripts, in the French Army at the beginning of the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

, in 1954, raised increasing concerns regarding divided loyalties and the danger of defection with weapons. Accordingly, the majority of Algerian ''

tirailleur A tirailleur (), in the Napoleonic era, was a type of light infantry trained to skirmish ahead of the main columns. Later, the term "''tirailleur''" was used by the French Army as a designation for indigenous infantry recruited in the French c ...

'' (infantry) units were deployed to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, replacing Metropolitan French troops for service in North Africa. The

Franco-German Brigade The Franco-German Brigade (; ) is a special military brigade of the Eurocorps, founded in 1989, jointly consisting of units from both the French Army and the German Army. History The Brigade was formed in 1987 following a summit between Fran� ...

was created on 12 January 1989. On 30 August 1993, with the

end of the Cold War End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

and the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the designation of these forces changed to "French Forces stationed in Germany" (FFSA) and most of the forces were withdrawn to France or disbanded. Following another reorganization in 1999, the designation of the forces changed again and became known as the "French Forces and Civilian Elements stationed in Germany" (FFECSA).

References

Army units and formations of France Allied occupation of Germany France–Germany military relations Military units and formations established in 1945 Military units and formations disestablished in 1993 {{mil-unit-stub

History

See also

References